Let Horton Plaza buyer do makeover of quirkiest mall of them all

In 1985, Horton Plaza created a sensation when it opened in Downtown San Diego. Developer Ernest Hahn and renowned architect Jon Jerde offered up a postmodern pastiche with an unusual design, playful details and colorful exteriors that was an instant hit, drawing 25 million visitors its first year.

Those days and crowds are gone. The mall is a ghost town, just another shopping center undone by larger trends in how consumers buy goods. That’s why it was exciting when the Stockdale Capital Partners real-estate investment firm bought Horton Plaza for $175 million in August and announced plans to transform the 900,000-square-foot property into an ultramodern tech-centric urban office building that it plans to call “The Campus at Horton.”

Now historic preservationists are opposing plans to renovate the mall. They have a point when they say Horton Plaza is in a class of its own in San Diego in how it’s revered by architects and other design connoisseurs. But they have a problem. The city’s standard has been that only properties that are 45 years and older can be designated as historic buildings — a standard that is completely reasonable.

The developer’s plans shouldn’t be impeded. This is prime space in the heart of Downtown, wasted. Let’s unlock its potential. Those who experience rapture while contemplating what was can settle for looking at pictures of the quirkiest mall of them all.